‘We don’t get enough credit for our consistency’ – Eoin Cody hits out at Kilkenny critics

The Cats joined the pantheon of greats by completing the fourth drive for five in the county’s history (1971-’75, 1998-2002 and ’05-’09) – the latter two part of longer winning streaks – and Cody reckons that the significance of the Leinster SHC is wrongly downplayed.

“The last number of years, it’s been a Leinster and a Munster team in an All-Ireland final. Leinster have always come out. That’s always the narrative (Leinster is weaker) but five-in-a-row in Leinster it’s only happened four times,” the All-Star forward said.

“As I said last year, I don’t think we get enough credit for the consistency in this group of players. Obviously, we’re not a Munster team and we can’t do anything about that but we’ll always be there or thereabouts.

“We’ve come up against a great Limerick team the last couple of years but we’ll always back ourselves and we don’t need anybody from the outside telling us what we’re good at and what we’re not good at.”

Cody fired a beautiful goal in their Leinster final rout of Dublin on Saturday night but the Ballyhale Shamrocks ace feels like he still has some distance to travel after an ankle injury interrupted championship preparations.

“It’s been difficult. I had injuries but hadn’t missed a championship game before. I had missed training and it was something I’d never been used to. It was mental more than physical different,” the 23-year-old said.

“I am probably not too happy with where I am yet. Three weeks of full, hard training before the next game (All-Ireland semi-final on July 6), I’ll be able to push myself and hopefully get to the levels I need to be for the team.

“I don’t know (if I’m too harsh on myself). I just know what I’m capable of contributing to the team. I have my own standards but I’ll get there yet. Every game has a life of its own. I won’t get too much bogged with it either.”